Microsoft Pulls Out of GDC Over Coronavirus Concerns

Coronavirus is forcing a bunch of companies to cancel events and conferences all around the world. Earlier this month, the GSMA was forced to cancel Mobile World Congress 2020, and just last night Facebook announced it will also be cancelling its annual developer conference due to coronavirus concerns.

And now, Microsoft is also announcing that the company will no longer be attending this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC). Microsoft is the latest company to pull out of GDC, following in the footsteps of Sony and Facebook.

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“After a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco,” said Microsoft.

The company announced earlier this week that the coronavirus outbreak will affect its revenues for the quarter.

“The health and safety of players, developers, employees, and our partners around the world is our top priority, especially as the world is experiencing growing public health risks associated with coronavirus” the company later added.

Fortnite and Unite Games creator Epic Games and Unity have also decided to pull out of GDC this year.

Microsoft says the company will hold a digital-only event between March 16th-18th as an alternative. The live-streamed event will include all of the planned game developer sessions and experiences, and it will also be available on-demand.